Founded in Shanghai in 1896 as Nanyang Public, XJTU was renamed and relocated to Xi’an in 1956. It is one of the China's oldest institutions of higher learning and is under the direct jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education (MOE) in China. Xi'an Jiaotong University has extensive ties to the world of international scholarship and research. In addition, there are currently 1020 foreign students from 51 countries studying at XJTU.